CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
307 km from Santiago de Querétaro to Santiago de Querétaro, about 6 h 04 of riding. It goes by way of Former hacienda of Chichimequillas, Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar, Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent M and back through Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Santiago de Querétaro's skyline is defined by its aqueduct, seventy-four tall stone arches striding across a valley into the city, built in the early eighteenth century at the expense of the Marqués de la Villa del Villar del Águila to bring fresh water from the hills. Legend says he did it for love of a nun; the more prosaic version says he wanted to improve public health. Either way, it is one of the great engineering works of colonial Mexico, and the view of the arches at dusk, lit up against the sky, is unforgettable.
Read the complete Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro is where the day begins. Next is Former hacienda of Chichimequillas.
On the high, dry plain northeast of Querétaro, the village of Chichimequillas grew up around an old hacienda, one of the many great estates that lined the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Royal Inland Road that connected Mexico City with Santa Fe, in what is now New Mexico, for nearly three centuries. Silver, mercury, cloth, livestock, missionaries and soldiers travelled this route, and haciendas like this one supplied food, water and rest. The route was listed by UNESCO in 2010 as a series of sites, and the hacienda is one of them; its old buildings, chapel and walls hint at the wealth and power once concentrated here.
Read the complete Former hacienda of Chichimequillas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Former hacienda of Chichimequillas comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar.
San Miguel de Allende is a hill town in the highlands of Guanajuato, a little over two thousand metres above the sea, with cobbled streets climbing between ochre and rose-coloured walls, and in the middle of it the Gothic spires of the parish church rise improbably above the rooftops. The point on your map is in the centre of the town, and the sanctuary of Atotonilco, about fourteen kilometres away on the road to Dolores Hidalgo, was inscribed together with the town by UNESCO in 2008.
Read the complete Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 76 km into the recorded legs you reach Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar. Next is Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent M.
Guanajuato is a town that has been dug into, built over and tunnelled through, and it has a character all of its own. It sits in a narrow canyon in the highlands of central Mexico, and the silver mines that made it rich lie in the hills around it. In the eighteenth century the Valenciana mine was among the richest in the world, and the profits built grand churches, theatres and mansions, all painted in bright colours and packed into steep, winding streets. UNESCO listed the town and its mines in 1988.
Read the complete Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent M write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent M, about halfway. Next is back through Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar sits at 213 km, about halfway. Next is back through Former hacienda of Chichimequillas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Former hacienda of Chichimequillas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Former hacienda of Chichimequillas comes up about 281 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro closes the day.
Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro → Former hacienda of Chichimequillas is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Former hacienda of Chichimequillas → Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar → Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent M is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent M → back through Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Protective town of San Miguel and Sanctuar → back through Former hacienda of Chichimequillas is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Former hacienda of Chichimequillas → Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.